How to Change Ports in Internet Explorer

by Lysis

Internet Explorer typically uses the default port 80 for general Web browsing or port 443 on secure websites. However, some consoles or Web services use different access ports for security reasons. To visit these websites or router consoles, you will need to use a different port in Internet Explorer. You can force Internet Explorer to use a different access port by adding it to the console or web service URL in the address bar.

1

Open Internet Explorer or the Edge browser. Type a URL address in the browser's navigation address bar. If you can get onto the site through the normal address, then you won't need to configure the URL to use a different port.

2

Determine what port you need to access. The default port is 80 for websites. However, if you want to access services such as FTP, then the port is 21 by default.

3

Add the port suffix to the address bar in the navigation text box to switch ports. For instance, if you want to use port 21, enter the following text in the navigation bar after the URL address: www.my_url.com:21 The ":21" tells Internet Explorer to use port number 21.

Tips

You can also use this method for other widely-used Web browsers such as Firefox or Chrome.

Firewall software might block access to some little-used ports. In this situation, configure the firewall application to allow communications through the specified port from its settings menu.

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References

About the Author

Lysis is the pen name for a former computer programmer and network administrator who now studies biochemistry and biology while ghostwriting for clients. She currently studies health, medicine and autoimmune disorders. Lysis is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in genetic engineering.